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OSLO, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Norway unveiled a 20-year plan to unlock offshore Arctic oil and gas resources and channel them to worldwide markets, a project the foreign minister said may cost billions of dollars and bring rivalries over Arctic resources to a head.

“It is the project of a generation,” Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in an interview. “As the ice melts, new transport routes are opening up, resources are becoming accessible and human activity is drawn to this region.”

The 134-page white paper said massive infrastructure building, research investment, a new fighter-jet fleet and careful diplomacy will help bring “a new industrial era in the high north”, including an island group where jurisdiction is contested.

Neighbours like Russia and the United Kingdom have already begun to challenge Norway’s claim of full tax and regulatory power in the potentially oil-rich waters off the Svalbard island group, halfway between Norway and the North Pole.

Last month Russia formally protested against Norway’s temporary seizure of Russian trawlers for fishing violations in what Moscow considers international waters, and populist Duma member Vladimir Zhirinovsky likened the actions to piracy.

Diana Wallis, a European Parliament vice president and Arctic affairs specialist, said she too questioned unfettered Norwegian control in the northern Barents Sea zone and that future oil exploration would magnify the dispute.

“At the moment there are gaps in the (jurisdictional) framework, especially in the scenario of an oil and gas boom,” she told Reuters.

A 1920 treaty gives Norway sovereignty over Svalbard and a tight ring of surrounding water on condition it impose minimal taxes and give all 40-some signatory nations equal access to the area’s bounty.

But Norway has since declared a 200-mile economic zone around Svalbard and says its autonomy over oil, gas and fish beyond 12 miles is unconditional — as in the Norwegian North Sea, where oil firms pay 78-percent income tax.

“It is Norway’s sovereignty and therefore it’s Norway’s responsibility to decide the rules,” said Stoere.

“Those that argue that our interpretation is wrong are free to take this to the Hague,” he added, referring to the International Court of Justice.

Stoere played down the potential for conflict, saying exploration off Svalbard is years away. “The oil industry is busy elsewhere,” he said.

F-35 FIGHTERS

A grand slam of oil and gas discoveries in 2011, including Statoil’s big Skrugard find in the western Barents, has energised Norway’s offshore oil industry.

And Russia’s anger over Svalbard did not stop it from signing a new sea boundary with Norway in the central Barents, freeing a promising zone for oil exploration on both sides.

Norway and Russia are both among the world’s largest gas exporters and oil exporters.

The northward movement of capital, infrastructure and manpower that Stoere envisions will meet little political resistance south of Svalbard, where Norway’s economic zones are unchallenged and Statoil already produces natural gas.

Today’s earth-observation satellite stations, F-16 fighter jet bases and oil-and-gas outposts in Norway’s sparsely populated high north are “only the beginning” of decades of growth and research to come, Stoere said.

By leveraging its oil wealth in public-private partnerships, he said, Norway will consider building a 1,400-kilometre extension of its North Sea pipelines to the Russian frontier to transport Barents gas to western Europe with spurs ashore to power mining and other new industry in northern Norway.

The white paper sees heightened military activity in the far north, including more NATO exercises and the planned purchase of 48 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the United States to replace Norwegian F-16s now stationed above the Arctic Circle.

“The government will enforce sovereignty and exercise authority in the north in a credible, consistent and predictable way,” Norway’s white paper says.

Political analysts said they have noted a pick-up in Russian naval and air force patrols across the Barents in the past five years, though far short of what was normal in the Soviet era. (Editing by William Hardy)

The Secretary of State for the UK's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department issues his backing for the UK's onshore shale gas industry and set out a series of actions to support the sector.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras is looking to farm-out parts of its ownership in four blocks in located in the Deepwater Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, across an exploration area of 44,370 square kilometers . ...

ADES International, a provider of offshore and onshore oil and gas drilling and production services, has secured a new loan from a Saudi bank to finance the acquisition of three jack-ups from Nabors. ...

Australian LNG player Woodside is looking to up the pace on the development of the Scarborough gas field off the country's northwestern coast. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Harvey Gulf International Marine, the New Orleans-based LNG-fueled PSV owner and LNG bunkering pioneer, saw its final plan of reorganization approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

MAN Diesel & Turbo has been selected to provide a complete propulsion package and fuel-gas system for the world’s first fishing vessel with LNG propulsion. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have called for public comments on the Jordan Cove Energy project proposed for the North Spit of Coos Bay near... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Fluxys-operated Zeebrugge liquefied natural gas terminal is scheduled to host five LNG carriers over the next 15 days. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Oslo-based Awilco LNG, the owner of two 156,000-cbm LNG carriers, reported a profit of $1 million in the first quarter of this year as compared to a loss of $31.8 million in the comparable period... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Russian giant Gazprom and its Japanese partner Mitsui discussed the progress of its small- and mid-scale LNG cooperation. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

You are probably aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into effect on May 25th. In a nutshell, it means your personal data will be better protected, hence... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

You are probably aware of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into effect on May 25, 2018. In a nutshell it means your personal data will be better protected, hence... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Nautilus Minerals has completed the first trial of its newly-developed autonomous sediment sampler. The insect-inspired creation is dubbed the “Nautilus Jumping Spider” and resembling its animal... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Impact Subsea has appointed Craig Thorburn as operations manager, who will be responsible for product production and customer support. Craig will be based at the Impact Subsea headquarters in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Unmanned Survey Solutions’ new Accession Class unmanned surface vessels (USVs) have been given the green light following the funding from Marine-i Marine Challenge Fund, supported by the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Nord Stream 2, the developer of the twin pipeline to supply Russian natural gas to the EU market, released 90,000 young Atlantic salmon as compensation for potential temporary damage to fisheries... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Gulf of Mexico-focused vessel operator Harvey Gulf International Marine has been granted approval for its ﬁnal Plan of Reorganization by the United States Bankruptcy Court. The approval comes just 77... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has appointed Terry Makewell to the position of chief technology officer. According to UKHO, this appointment will support it in delivering its vision of becoming... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Aquaterra Energy has made two senior management promotions to spearhead its continued growth strategy. George Morrison becomes group CEO of parent company Aquaterra Energy Group, while James Larnder... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Minesto has completed the installation of the micro grid system (MGS) buoy that will be used for the company’s first tidal energy installation in Holyhead Deep, Wales. Moored to the seabed using... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Tymor Marine has appointed Matthew Heyman as business development manager of the company. Matthew has over twenty years maritime industry experience with companies including Wilhelmsen, Maersk and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Statoil’s active leases in the Gulf of Mexico

Scientists now think there could be microscopic life floating in the clouds of Venus. Their theory is surprising, considering how inhospitable the surface of Venus is. But in the clouds, the possibility of life is very real. Following is a transcript of the video. Despite decades of searching distant planets and stars for alien life we’re still empty-handed. […]

Childbirth is an amazing process. But unless you've witnessed or experienced it, you might not realize just how powerful the moment can be. That's why there are birth photos, which show people what the process is like — and prove that there is no one way for a woman to give birth. To celebrate birth and the photographers that capture it, the Intern […]

A big new European privacy regulation called GDPR goes into effect on May 25. But, because the internet crosses borders, many of their protections apply to people around the world, including Americans. GDPR says internet companies need to ask their customers for permission to use their data in a clear and understandable way. That's why you're gett […]

The median US home value rose 8.7% year-over-year in April to $215,600, the fastest increase since 2006, according to Zillow data. San Jose, Las Vegas, and Seattle were the cities that saw the biggest increase over the period. Homes in the US haven't been this valuable since before the financial crisis. That's according to new data from Zillow, whi […]

Gifts made to commemorate the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un are now being sold for a discount at the White House gift shop. Trump cancelled the meeting this morning. The gifts were made to complement a coin made by the White House that went viral earlier this week. People started joking about it as soon as the cancellatio […]

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the company's board is no longer fighting for control after he proposed a new structure last October. His proposals curtailed former CEO Travis Kalanick's voting power. He said fixing Uber's governance was his first job as CEO, and that he then moved onto company culture and strategy. Khosrowshahi co […]

AirlineRatings.com recently surveyed its readers to find out which types of passengers people find most annoying on a plane. Of the more than 5,300 people who responded to the survey, 78% found people who smell bad to be the worst passengers to be around. Other types of passengers to make the top 10 include out of control kids and people who bring too many c […]

Eight women accused Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior in a CNN report published Thursday. The accusers included CNN reporter Chloe Melas, the coauthor of CNN's report, who alleged that Freeman subjected her to inappropriate comments about her appearance at a press junket. Altogether, CNN spoke to 16 people who "describe […]

President Donald Trump's cancellation of the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly caught South Korea's president by surprise, and he's called an emergency meeting at midnight, local time. It looks like Trump didn't tell anyone before he decided to pull out of the summit. President Donald Trump's cancellatio […]

Mary Beth Buchanan, a former federal prosecutor appointed by President George W. Bush, has been hired by crypto exchange Kraken, according to people familiar with the matter. The regulatory environment has been murky for companies like Kraken given the nascent nature of the crypto market. Notably, the US has reportedly opened a criminal probe into market m […]

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog, It’s now cool to be bearish bonds. A couple of years ago you were labeled a pariah for even suggesting inflation might pick up. The few of us that argued locking in 10-year money at 1.4% wasn’t a good risk reward supposedly didn’t understand the overwhelming three Ds - debt, demographics and deflation. Yeah, […]

Two days ago, when looking at the ongoing turmoil gripping the Italian market, where the imminent formation of a populist, Euroskeptic government with a penchant for spending and threatening to impose a "parallel currency", the "Mini-BoT" has sent Italian yields soaring to the highest level in years, we noted something more troubling not […]

Authored by Amity blog via Safehaven.com, In early November, while Bitcoin enthusiasts and investors were waiting for a long-anticipated update to the software that supports the famous digital currency, a mass email from the group behind the project informed everyone that they were canceling the update. For months, Segwit2x, as the update was called, was at […]

Having been a dollar bull for several months, Bloomberg's Mark Cudmore now thinks it's about time for the long-term dollar downtrend to resume. All the key drivers of strength have run their course and it's more likely that the marginal developments from here will weigh on the dollar... Via Bloomberg, After rising more than 4% in the last five […]

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fired off a letter to the Department of Justice Wednesday demanding unredacted versions of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and former bureau attorney Lisa Page, including one exchange which took place after Strzok had returned from London as part of the recently launched "Operation C […]

Update: Trump said that while he hopes that talks will lead to a favorable outcome, the US military is remains ready to act if necessary. The comments represent a return to the menacing Trump rhetoric of last year. Trump added that the talks could still take place as originally planned. *TRUMP SAYS CANCELLATION OF KIM SUMMIT BASED ON KIM'S STATEMENTS *T […]

Authored by Tho Bishop via The Mises Institute, Nicolás Maduro may have received more votes in Venezuela’s recent presidential election, but the record-low voter turnout is widely seen as its own form of protest against his increasingly oppressive socialist regime. So as long as Maduro’s government controls the voting process, his opponents will continue to […]

In the second round of sanctions announced this week, the Treasury Department on Thursday said it would impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies, as well as aircraft connected to those companies, in a move that targets four Iranian airlines. The sanctions were levied against nine individuals and entities for "procuring export-controlled […]

Having collapsed this morning following a profit warning (and mass layoffs) this morning, we suspect the following chart will start to send Deutsche Bank counterparties scrambling for protection... With a market cap of just over $21 billion now, Deutsche Bank - the once most systemically-dangerous bank in the world, and German darling - is now smaller than.. […]

One month ago we reported how, three years after a historic "fat finger" wire transfer in which Deutsche Bank mistakenly sent $6 billion to a (briefly) lucky hedge fund, a routine payment at the biggest German bank "went awry" (or as Bloomberg said at the time, "was flubbed") when the bank "mistakenly" sent 28 billion […]